1A Baseball: Marathon Day for Warriors Capped With Regional Berth

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    ROCHESTER — The Warriors' road to the 1A regional baseball playoffs was long.

    Really, really, ridiculously long.

    Rochester beat La Center, 1-0, in 17 innings here Tuesday in the first round of the District 4 1A Baseball Tournament, then topped Elma 5-3 in the district semifinals to extend its season by at least a week and advance to the District 4 championship game.

    The La Center game was impressive for not only its length, but for the stylish manner in which the Warriors finally ended it — as well as the jaw-dropping pitching performances.

    Rochester's Josh Larson put down a drag bunt with two outs and the bases loaded — directly after a squeeze bunt had resulted in the second out of the inning — to end the game in the bottom of the 17th inning.

    Dylan Fosnacht started on the mound and worked into the 15th inning, holding La Center to seven hits with three walks and 17 strikeouts over that span.

    La Center's Trevor Roberson, meanwhile, worked the first 12 scoreless innings, striking out 13 and allowing two hits without a walk.

    "That's the longest baseball game I've ever been a part of in high school baseball," Rochester coach Jerry Striegel said. "To see one pitcher go 12 innings, and another kid go 15, you don't see that very often, at all."

    Fosnacht was finally replaced by Dustin Wilson in the 15th, after allowing back-to-back singles to start the inning.

    "We talked to him every inning, and he said he felt comfortable, he felt good, and he's a little competitor," Striegel said. "He didn't want to come out of the ballgame. He wasn't very pleased when I took him out in the 15th."

    The Warriors' second game of the day was nowhere near as dramatic on the field.

    Wilson started and, after throwing three innings against La Center, tossed all seven in the win over Elma.

    "He kind of got focused in and threw much better in the last three innings," Striegel said, pointing out Wilson's five strikeouts in the last three frames.

    Wilson and Fosnacht each went 3 for 4 in the late game, with Lucas Eastman going 2 for 4 and driving in a run.

    Dakota Deal and Wyatt Singer added RBIs.



    The wins put Rochester (17-5) in Saturday's District 4 championship game against Woodland, set for 3 p.m. at Castle Rock.

    "We played 17 innings, and we came out on top, but our intensity and our attitude was very good in the second game," Striegel said. "Not only the kids on the field, but the nine kids in the dugout."

    Note: Toledo-Winlock lost 7-5 to Elma in its opener, and fell, 9-1, to La Center in a loser-out second-round game.

Beavers a Win From Regionals

    CASTLE ROCK — Tenino gave District 4 1A Baseball Tournament host Castle Rock a rude awakening, defeating the Rockets 8-5 in their opening round matchup here on Tuesday. The Beavers then fell to Trico champion Woodland, 5-3, in the tournament semifinals, and will now face La Center on Friday with a regional berth on the line.

    Against Castle Rock, the Beavers came back from a 5-1 deficit in the bottom of the fourth with a 5-run rally and added 2 insurance runs en route to the victory.

    "We had kind of slow start but in the fourth we finally kicked things into gear and put some runs on the board," first-year Tenino coach Conner Hogue said. "It was a battle and we ended up just having the ball bouncing our way. I'm proud of the kids about how they didn't give in and they kept battling."

    Both teams had six hits in the contest, and Tenino got a 2-RBI performance from both Brayden Hisaw and Zeb Chamberlain. Thomas Pier went 1 for 3 with 3 runs and two stolen bases.

    Woodland went 14-0 in the Trico this season and was ranked No. 1 in the state before sneaking past the Beavers, 5-3, in the district semifinals.     Tenino led 3-1 heading into the bottom of the third inning before Woodland's 4-run rally.

    "We loaded up the bases with no outs and we battled out of it," Hogue said. "They only got four runs out of that. You just can't give them that because they're a great team."

    Freshman pitcher Robbie Wall came in the fourth inning and only allowed a run to Woodland the rest of the way.

    "For a freshman to come in against the No. 1 team and do that is something," Hogue said.

    Zeb Chamberlain had an RBI triple while Terran Gilbreath went 2 for 3 with an RBI.

    Tenino and La Center face off at 2 p.m. Friday, back in Castle Rock.